Shallow Breaths
by Corsiva Vyrae
Summary: What if when Reo returned to Alice Academy to destroy it, he had shot Mikan in the process. Would Natsume reveal his true feelings for her or will he lose his chance and never be able to see her smile again? ONESHOT


**fanpire:** Hey guys! This is just a one-shot on the scene where Mikan and the gang barged into the recording room to see Narumi unconscious! And the-

**Hotaru: ***_Brings out Baka Gun and directs it at fanpire_* T_THold it there inconsiderate baka. Don't you know that there could be some readers out there who don't know about these scenes yet?! Maybe I should just use my Shut up Cannon on you instead.

**fanpire: ***runs away screaming*

**Narumi: ***walks in* Errrmm…you can put the cannon down Imai, I'm sure she didn't mean that…uuum…where IS she? Oh well…I'll have to do everything then. I must warn you that this is a spoiler for those who haven't watched this certain episode or read the certain volume. Now that you have been warned I can now cont-

**Natsume: ***casually walks in reading a mangga with Mikan behind him* what are you morons doing?

**Hotaru: ***Eyes sparkle dangerously* Are you calling ME a MORON? *points cannon at him*

**Natsume: ***sweatdrops* ahem…I need to go see Ruka…excuse me…*sprints off*

**Mikan: **Hello! I guess I'll continue from here since Narumi-sensei and Natsume-kun ran off. Ok, we are starting at the scene where the gang and I burst in to see Reo standing over an unconscious Narumi-sensei! Reo walks towards us and I stand in front of him, blocking the others. He smiles and withdraws the gun from his coat pocket and…..*gasps dramatically*…..You'll find out! HEHEHE!

*Runs off*

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Reo walked towards the group, smirking as he saw who came to rescue Narumi: just a bunch of children.

His smirk grew wider as he saw that Natsume was part of the group. He looked directly at him.

"Ah, Natsume. It's good you've come to join us. Mm? Maybe you would like to rethink that decision of yours before I kill your friends. Am I right?"

"Maybe it's better if-" Reo fiddled with his earring and removed it carefully "YOU ALL CAN"T USE YOUR POWERS!" he bellowed, causing everyone in the room to collapse.

He walked towards the defenseless group, but before he could take another step, a small girl with chestnut hair stepped in between Reo and the group, spreading her arms to shield them.

"Ah, the nullifying girl again eh? You're getting on my nerves you know, so why don't you just move aside and let me take what I need to, so nobody gets hurt."

The girl didn't move from her spot, knowing that if she did, everything will be ruined, for her and everybody else.

"Alrighty then, if that's the way you want it…Let's see if you can block this…"

Reo pulled out a gun from his pocket and pointed it at the girl, who was already shaking, but fierce determination was evident in her eyes.

"Such a waste…"

Reo smiled as he was about to pull the trigger, but a movement in his peripheral vision caught his attention, he looked towards and saw Natsume trying to stand up, his red eyes now wild with fury.

But Natsume getting up angered Reo even more, he was angry at the fact that Natsume was stronger than him, too strong, in fact, to work for AAO.

He pointed his gun at Natsume and smiled like a madman, he dropped his earring and said softly in an mesmerizing voice "I'll kill you Black Cat, you'll no longer be a threat to the AAO."

Reo pulled the trigger but, suddenly, felt two hands clasp his shoulders from the front, and the sound of the gunshot was lost in a strong and silent explosion, sending an aftershock that spread throughout the school, the people who were caught in it suddenly fell into unconsciousness because of it's strength.

The gun slid off Reo's hand as he fell to the floor in unconsciousness, his earring rolling until it came to a stop at the girl's feet

Mikan's eyes were wide with shock at what she had just done.

Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her chest area, her hand immediately felt it and she gasped when she saw her hand was wet with red liquid, she fell to the floor as she started to lose consciousness, crimson liquid staining her clothes and slowly pooled on the floor below her.

She closed her eyes slowly as each drop of blood slowly trickled her life away…

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Tsubasa woke up to find himself sprawled on the floor beside Misaki and the others, who were still unconscious.

He saw Reo lying on the floor too, the gun close to his body. Tsubasa stood up slowly and was about to walk forward when he saw a small body in front of Reo.

He suddenly remembered how defenseless he felt as he crumpled to the floor like the others, his powers leaving him, he could only watch helplessly as he saw Reo step forward. He felt alarmed when Mikan blocked Reo's path. She could've gotten hurt.

Tsubasa smiled as he thought of how brave Mikan was today, she should earn the special star.

His smile faded when he saw a crimson pool around her unmoving body, spreading slowly.

He ran towards her and turned her body around, so that her deathly pale face was facing the ceiling.

His eyes grew wide as he saw the source of blood, a wound that was bleeding profusely.

He relaxed only a little as he saw the faint movement of the rise and fall of her chest.

But it was faint.

Very faint.

He heard someone stir, and he saw that Misaki was starting to get up, soon, everyone else was stirring. Even Narumi.

"Tsubasa! How'd you knock down Re-" Misaki's eyes widened as she saw that he was supporting the pale body of Mikan, his hands and shirt already stained with blood, matching Mikan's shirt and the tiled floor below, the pool spreading steadily

Misaki's eyes stung with tears that threatened to overflow, as she also remembered Mikan standing in front Reo, protecting all of them.

The room was deathly quiet as the scene in front of them started to sink in.

Hotaru roughly pushed Ruka out of the way and ran towards Mikan, tears streaming down her face as she held the cold, pale hand of her best friend.

"Mikan, mikan, wake up baka. Wake up!" she shook Mikan's shoulders, more tears streaming down her face as her cold barrier was knocked down when she saw her friend wasn't waking up.

Narumi stood up, determination in his eyes, and went towards Mikan, he picked her up from Tsubasa's arms and ran out the door everyone following behind him except Tsubasa and Misaki, who stayed behind to guard the AAO workers.

Narumi ran towards the clinic where he found doctors and nurses just getting up.

He ran to the nearest one and told her to help him.

The doctor took one look at the situation and immediately got an emergency table where she motioned for Narumi to lay Mikan on.

The rest of the group hurriedly woke the other doctors and nurses, and soon, Mikan was rushed into the surgery room.

The atmosphere was tense as the group waited, and the temperature started to climb because of Natsume.

He was thinking about Mikan.

How she saved him from being killed by putting her own life on the line.

_Mikan, you baka._

He thought grimly as he grinded his teeth together and closed his eyes.

Waiting.

A few hours later a grim-faced doctor came out.

"I have to tell you that the surgery we did was extremely complicated. The bullet that was imbedded into her chest pierced her heart."

The temperature rose abruptly, nobody was breathing.

"We were able to pull it out but we had to put her on life support for now. She only has fifty percent chance of living or dying. You may go see her now, but you have to keep quiet."

Everyone rushed into the room to find a pale Mikan lying on a bed with a life support machine by her right bedside and a heart monitor on the other side.

Her chest faintly rose and fell from her shallow breathing, but aside from that, she wasn't moving at all.

Natsume sat by her side and gripped hand tightly.

He leaned in close and whispered into her ear,

"_Mikan, you may not hear me, but don't leave us. Not now. You still have a lot of things to do. You have to earn your stars. You have to graduate. You have stay with me._"He gripped her hand tighter.

"_You have to stay with me Mikan, stay with me. I still need you._" Natsume whispered more urgently into her ear. Not caring that tears were already streaming down his face. Not caring that everybody else was watching.

She just has to live.

He still needed her.

She just needed to survive this and continue smiling like she always does.

He still needed her, her and her smile.

Everyone was silent as they watched Natsume lean his head on her unmoving shoulder.

His hot tears wetting her hospital gown.

Hotaru smiled faintly, more tears streaming down her face, that Natsume had finally addressed his true feelings for her.

Mikan still has a reason to live.

Hotaru's only comfort now was the beeping of the heart monitor, letting everyone know that Mikan was still alive.

The beeping may have been slow, but, it let them know she is still alive.

Ruka couldn't stand watching Hotaru crying like that, he knelt down and hugged her.

Hotaru was surprised by the gesture, but it was the very thing she needed right now.

I warm hug.

Everyone tensed as the monitor's beeping suddenly slowed.

Slowed to a pace that wasn't normal.

Slowing, slowing.

Slowing.

Natsume gripped her hand as he saw the rise and fall of her chest was growing fainter and fainter.

He looked at her pale, serene face and inhaled her sweet scent.

He took a lock from her hair and stared at it.

He brought it to his mouth and kissed it gently, letting it fall back onto her shoulder into a perfect curve.

Everybody bowed their heads as the beeping stopped.

Hotaru hugged her knees to her chest and let out a sorrowful wail as she could no longer hear the beeping.

Natsume just stared at the peaceful face and laid his head on her chest again. Closing his eyes and committing the moment to his memory.

He remembered the best thing about Mikan.

Her smile.

Everybody closed their eyes and, too, remembered her smile.

How the world seemed like a brighter face when she smiled, and that when she was sad everyone couldn't stand it.

Her smile was everyone's sunshine.

Anna and Nonoko went forward and put their hands on the switch of the monitor.

They gripped it tightly and pulled it down, turning the monitor down.

They went towards Mikan and each of them removed one star from their collars, putting them on Mikan's collar.

Iinchou and the other guys went forward and also donated one star and laid it on her collar.

Hotaru went forward and did the same, except she put two stars for her best friend.

Ruka put a star and walked back to Hotaru.

Last was Natsume, he removed his special star from his collar and was about to put it on her collar when other teachers walked into the room.

"This is outrageous! No student is allowed to have more than the special star!" Jin shouted, looking directly at the special star that Natsume laid on Mikan's collar.

Natsume looked at Jin directly, his red eyes filled with sorrow and anger.

"I think she deserves more than one star for what she did today, everyone who was there would agree with me. Since you weren't there, what right do you have to say that she doesn't deserve these stars. She just saved this whole academy by sacrificing her life and you say that she isn't _allowed _to have more than a special star. This girl has more right than anyone else in this room to have these stars because aside from saving the academy she helped everyone around her by lifting their spirits. And do you know how? Do you? All because of her smiles. I think you would agree with me there. So I suggest that you just stand there and think about what you just said thoughtlessly."

Jin stepped back and bowed his head.

Natsume turned back to Mikan and gripped her hand.

But Mikan wasn't finished fighting yet.

Inside her head, she could her everything that was going on, but she couldn't feel her body.

She tried to talk, scream but nothing came out of her mouth.

She was in a place of darkness, the only light she could see was up ahead, but she wasn't going to it because she knew what it was.

She wasn't ready to go yet, she was going to stay. She felt a surge of happiness as Natsume kept whispering her name.

She kept walking back towards the darkness, the white light getting farther and farther behind her.

Suddenly she was engulfed in blackness.

But she could feel a warm hand on hers.

She could feel!

She tried to grip the hand, but her body wasn't functioning properly.

She saw the white light starting to come towards her.

She tried harder, she tried to grip as hard as she could.

Her body felt the need to respond, her happiness, love, and hope for the people around her pushing her to try harder.

She was doing it for everyone.

Especially for Natsume.

Suddenly, she felt her body again.

She tried to grip the warm hand and it worked!

She was successful!

She fought death and she won!

She gripped harder and harder, wanting to let everyone know that she was still here.

Natsume was leaning on her shoulder, gripping her tighter than ever.

He was about to let go of her hand when he suddenly felt it twitch.

He lifted his head and stared at her hand.

_How is this possible? She's dead!_

He gripped it again and was shocked that it gripped back!

He looked at Mikan's face and saw that her eyes were twitching, her chest started to rise and fall.

Her hand gripped harder and harder, her breathing becoming faster.

Her eyes fluttered open, revealing her gentle hazel eyes, and she sat up.

Everyone gasped, some shaking their heads as if it was just and illusion. Some were actually looking at Iinchou, who sweatdropped at the looks of their faces.

She felt her energy returning to her and she hopped down onto floor. She walked towards Natsume, who was on the other side, and hugged him tight.

"_Thank you, thank you._" She whispered into his eyes, tears streaming down her face as he hugged her back.

"Baka" stated Hotaru as she smiled and brought out her Baka Gun and shot at Mikan's head.

Mikan turned around and hugged Hotaru fiercely, smiling as she felt Hotaru's tears spilling onto her hospital gown.

Soon, everyone engulfed Mikan into a group hug, people were crying, some were laughing.

Tsubasa and Misaki were also there to witness the miracle, with Reo and his gang tied behind them.

Reo's alice was no longer working as he tried again and again to control Tsubasa and Misaki, Mikan's nullifying alice nullified his alice completely because he got full force of her power.

He was stuck on the floor with his gang because their shadows were caught by Tsubasa.

After this, Mikan earned _**two**_ special stars.

Also after the incident, Mikan was suddenly able to use her power at will, getting to use it at weak, medium, strong, or the full force. (of course, nobody in **right** mind would ever **dare** provoke her to use it)

She was left with a strange, star shaped scar on the area above her heart.

She and Natsume developed their relationship and got married after school.

"And so the most powerful Nullifier fell in love with the Flame Caster Master." Was their friend's famous quote for them.

When the whole gang had graduated all of them lived together in a big house. Creating a big family, the safest environment for Mikan and Natsume's daughter, Miyuki Hyuuga, since her skin was so white as snow.

Their daughter's 3 alices were the same as her parents, except much stronger, and she also got S.E.C alice, giving her more alices than she needed.

Good thing she inherited her mother's smile and attitude while she inherited her father's looks and commonsense and intelligence.

Hotaru and Ruka got married and, too, had a daughter: Kisa Nogi.

She inherited her mother's alice and looks, but, Ruka's personality and love for animals. Mysteriously, she also has the natural ability to talk to animals but doesn't have the animal pheromones alice.

Tsubasa and Miyaki lived with the gang and had twin boys: Haru and Aya.

They had the alice of telepathy that only works when they're together. Haru had the alice of Tsubasa while Aya had the alice of duplicating himself.

Narumi stayed with them and fell in love with a girl he met in the AA town near the Howalon shop, Tohru, who's alice was controlling paper.

They got married and had twins: A boy called Kyouya, inherited Narumi's alice, and a girl called Renge, who inherited her mother's alice. They also had the special alice of controlling plants when they were together.

Since there were so many people, they had to move into a big mansion and that's where they stayed.

Mikan's powerful alice was passed down to a girl in her family for the next generations of the Hyuuga family, same with Natsume except his got passed to boys.

**THE END**

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**Mikan: ***sigh* what a lovely story…anyway…I haffta' go guys bye bye!

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

_I know that the names of some of the kids came from Fruits basket and Ouran, sorry about that. I didn't have names. As I say: None of the characters in this story belong to me._

_I know that the story is kinda crappy, but bear with me. This is my first time in writing a story that actually ends happily. Hehehe…._

_Anyway…thanks for reading! I'll refer you to my other story:_

_**I Will Always Love You**_

_**By:**_

_**fanpire-over-here**_


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